52
from her how can the heart bear separation (even if it were) adamant or forged (steel)?
317. "So she grew up, (and) I was able to go to battle. Since the king looked upon the maid as the heir to the kingship, he gave me back into the hands of my father. When I was of that age I played at ball,[1] I sported in the lists, I killed a lion like a cat.
318. "The king built a house, and in it a dwelling for the maid; for stone he used bezoar,[2] cut jacinths and rubies; in front was a little garden and a fountain[3] of rose-water for bathing; there abode she for whose sake a furnace of flame consumes me.
319. "Day and night cut aloes poured forth their incense from censers.[4] Sometimes she sits in the tower; sometimes she descends to the garden when it is shaded. Davar[5] was the king's sister, a widow who had been wedded in Kadjet'hi[6]; to her the king gave his child to be taught wisdom.
320. "The palace was curtained with cloth of gold[7] and costly brocades[8]; none of us saw her (how) she became crystal and rose of face; Asmat'h and two slaves she had, they played backgammon.[9] There her shape was formed; she grew up like (? a tree) in Gabaon.[10]
321. "I was fifteen years old. The king brought me up as a son; by day I was before him, (and) he did not even give me leave to sleep (at home). In power a lion, to the eye a sun, in form I was like one reared in Eden; they lauded the feats done by me in archery and in the lists.
322. "The arrow I shot slew beasts and game; returned from the plain, I played at ball in the square[11]; then I went home, I used to make a feast, accustomed con-
- ↑ Burt'hi, 20, 68, 322.
- ↑ P'hazari, P., pad zahr, antidote.
- ↑ Saradji, P.
- ↑ Mudjamari, A.
- ↑ Means in Georgian, "I am sister."
- ↑ 1225, etc.
- ↑ Oksino, 1359.
- ↑ Shadi. Cf. 359 for another sense.
- ↑ Nardi, 82.
- ↑ Gabaon is the Gibeon of the Books of Joshua, Samuel, etc. The phrase is far from clear. A traditional interpretation makes it refer to the twin hillocks of Nestan's breast.
- ↑ Moedani, P.
